Westgate Adventures!

We were joined by a fourth player last night, who took the role of the NPC friar. Renamed David Strunk, the friar was indispensable in combating a group of zombies that attacked the party. Unfortunately, the cavalier and one of the two remaining militiamen (one was already killed by the same brown mould that killed the ranger) were severely wounded. They’ll be resting for at least a week before they can adventure again.

Having a fourth made the game even more fun, more substantial than it was before, and we hope that our new player stays with us for a while!

We began playing in earnest online last week, and I have to say that the first night went very well. The first night consisted of only two PCs, a ranger and a cavalier (a familiar class to 1e players – that’s a hint at what will be found in our upcoming campaign source books), but they rose to the occasion.

I encourage new players! Come join the game via irc.darkmyst.org, on the channels #WestgateAdventures and #WestgateAdventures_OOC. If you do not have access to an IRC client, you can get to the game through the website http://www.darkmyst.org and clicking on the CHATNOW button. We had a great time, and we believe you will, too!

SPOILERSBELOWPLAYERSSTOPREADING AT THISPOINT! The rest of this post will describe some aspects of published material and is for the eyes of Game Masters or those who have already purchased the product described. Players who have any knowledge of material before they play are in danger of damaging the entire experience for themselves and the rest of the group, as a large part of the experience exists in the exploration and discovery of new things. Knowing things before they happen outside of an “in-game,” character-perspective context is the realm of video game walkthroughs and movie trailers, not the rich, social hobby of role-playing games.

We began with the Johnny Rook Games module Watchtower on the Hill. Little Kevin, a small boy in town, fell into a shaft hidden under the old floorboards of the watchtower outside of town. His father, Donald, charged into the Mughouse Pub to call for help, and our heroes, the paladin Victor Aurelius and the ranger Devin Marlock, sped out to the site to help, followed close by three townsfolk, members of the Westgate militia. The heroes entered the site and instructed the militiamen to stay behind.

The inexperienced heroes would learn from that mistake (always take the hirelings with you!). They managed to save Kevin, but while waiting for someone to retrieve and lower a rope for them to climb out of the newly discovered dungeon below the watchtower, they were attacked by two wandering zombies. They defeated their foes, but each suffered from wounds delivered by the creatures.

Both the ranger and the cavalier were created using new optional rules (another hint at our campaign book!) for characters that do not meet some basic requirements for the classes their players wish to play. Instead of barring the classes from the players because one of their abilities was not high enough, they began at zero level (for the ranger) and minus one level (for the cavalier). They were lucky enough to have high rolls for their partial hit dice, so they were still able to resist the zombie attack without dying. Still, they did not escape unscathed, and they looked forward to recovering from their wounds before returning to the site later. As long as there are creatures in the passageways below the watchtower, they could climb out of the newly opened shaft and endanger members of the community.

This week, we played again. As the cavalier rested, the ranger relaxed in the Mughouse Pub, where he met a young magic-user named Fauder (played by our newest member) and Friar Henry (an NPC, and wow! Another hint at our campaign book – the new Friar class!), who healed him of his wounds. They made plans to travel back to the watchtower the next day, after the friar had prayed for a new spell and after the cavalier was available to join them. We spent time role-playing the characters interacting with each other in the pub and losing a few coppers to locals in a game of darts instead of doing any dungeon delving, but we’re excited to enter the dungeon next week!

Come and visit us! Feel free to play or just watch. New players are always welcome!